Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum

Who is Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum?

Ayatollah Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum is a Twelver Shi'a Islamic leader and politician in Iraq.

Father of Ibrahim Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum, Oil Minister of Iraq from September 2003 to June 2004, and again during 2005.

Al-Ulloum was a longtime opponent of the rule of Saddam Hussein. By 1992 he had moved to London where he opposed Saddam's rule for many years. He was an active member of London's Shi'a community and was the head of AhlulBayt Centre in South London. In November 1992, at the Salahuddin gathering, within the safety of the southern air exclusion zone, along with Masoud Barzani and Colonel Hassan al-Naqib, he was one of the three men to be appointed to the presidential council by the Iraqi National Congress. Mohammad al-Ulloum continued to live in London prior to the 2003 Iraq invasion.

After the United States deposed Saddam Hussein in 2003, as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Al-Ulloum was appointed to the Iraq interim governing council. He agreed to participate in the interim government and was appointed to the nine-member rotating presidency. He was the first president of the council, in an interim capacity, serving in that position from July 13, 2003, until August 1, 2003.